Kofi stood on the wall, staring out a the city before her. The narrow cobblestone streets were bustling with people heading in every direction, heading off to do whatever meaningless task that they had been assigned to do. Kofi was not like them.
She stood on the wall, looking down in disgust at all the perfect law abiding citizens below. How could they do something so boring everyday?
She was quickly answered by the rumbling of her stomach.
Oh yeah, she thought, Food. That's why.
Well That wouldn't be a problem for too long, sure, she may have not eaten at all for the last day, but she was sure that the vendors would be "charitable."
First, let's clear out all these mindless animals Kofi thought as she blew out a sharp whistle. An earsplitting roar echoed through the streets just a moment later. A panic settled into the crowd below as the citizens realized what was going on. Chickens were dropped, coins abandoned, and sales canceled as everyone ran for the cover of shelter.
Kofi let out a laugh,
"Yeah, like your straw buildings would be any protection for you. Just be happy we are only after your food."
Just as the streets were almost completely cleared, a sparkling blue dragon flew over Kofi's head letting out another deafening roar. It's massive wings shook the earth with every flap. Its gold underbelly was almost blinding in the sunlight.
the dragon took a lap around the marketplace, spitting small balls of fire into the air as it flew towards Kofi, smoke coming from its nostrils.
Kofi jumped off the wall, landing of the padded saddle on the dragon's back.
"Was that really necessary, Crov?" Kofi asked.
"Why of course it was," Crov answered in her mind. Do you expect me not to instill fear into the hearts of our victims?
"Yeah, but you wasted 3 of your fire shots"
"Oh don't worry about that, I've got plenty left" Crov retorted.
So far, everything was going to plan. The streets were empty, leaving the small carts of food wide open. Crov landed in the main market with a loud thump.
"You keep watch," Kofi said as she jumped off his back.
The guards were bound to show up soon, and in a city this big, there was no doubt that they would know how to deal with dragons.
Hurrying, Kofi picked up anything she could find, shoving it into her sack. Fruit from the stalls, coin sacks dropped on the ground, even a live chicken. Pretty soon, her sack was full and they were ready to fly off. Yet there were still no guards.
In most raids, Kofi usually only had enough time to grab a few things before they had to fly away. However this time, she was beginning to struggle under the weight of her sack.
"We got a good haul this time," Kofi said, "at least enough to last us a week!"
"Alright, but hop on quickly," Crov said, "something just doesn't feel right about this."
Kofi tied her sack to the saddle, then climbed up into her seat. They took off, leaving the marketplace far below. It wasn't until they cleared the height of the buildings that Kofi realized why no guards had shown up. No guards were on the streets because they all had gone to the walls. The hundreds of guards surrounding them were all armed with crossbows, there were even some with ballistas.
"Hey, I found the guards," Crov said.
"I thought you were keeping watch!" Kofi exclaimed.
"Well, I was until I got distracted by a delicious meat vendor's cart. Honestly, I'm clearly not the one to blame here. You know me well enough to know that I can't be trusted to remain focused with there's meat around. Besides, these guards don't look too tough. Watch, I'll scare them away like babies."
Before Kofi could respond, Crov spun around, roaring with all his might as he spat out fire balls around them. None of the guards even flinched.
"Are you done?" Kofi asked.
"Quite so," Crov answered, I'll just get us out of here.
Crov took off towards one of the walls at full speed. The guards were ready for this. They shot a volley of arrows at Crov who spun to the right to evade when a second volley pierced his right wing. Kofi heard him cry out in pain within her mind followed by another loud roar.
Crov sent another blast of fire in the direction of the arrows that hit him.
"That'll show them," he said.
Kofi could see their situation worsening. No matter how much fire Crov could send out, the guards would be able to keep firing arrows from all directions. They were trapped. If Crov were to fly straight up, it would leave his wings and underbelly exposed. There was only one option.
"Crov! Fly straight forward at any wall. Blast away any arrows that they fire."
Crov dodged another volley of arrows and began to soar towards the guards on the wall. The guards quickly reloaded and fired again. This volley was incinerated by a blast of white hot fire!
"Uh oh," Crov said.
"What, what is it?"
"Oh, it's nothing, never mind."
The next shot came from a ballista. A giant net soared towards them, but instead of incinerating it, Crov dodged by flying upwards, leaving his belly open for a volley of arrows, which soon sped in causing another roar of pain.
"You're out of fire aren't you?" Although Kofi already knew the answer.
"No, no, I just though I had more time to level out," Crov said, "really, I'm fine."
With no time to recover, another net was sent soaring towards them. Crov pulled his head back as if he were going to spit fire, but instead all that came out was a pathetic puff of smoke. The net engulfed them, sending them spiraling to the ground. They crashed down into the vendors below, tangled and tied together by the rope net.
"Alright," Crov said, "Next time I'll save my fire."
Written by Joel Thatcher